


First Time

by chameleonwrites



Series: A Myriad of Stars [9]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Established Relationship, Implied Sexual Content, Inappropriate use of a medical cupboard, Kissing, M/M, Making Out, Misunderstandings, Nico misunderstands slang, No Smut, Post-Canon, Satan works hard but the CHB gossip mill works harder, Thank goodness Hazel isn't at Camp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 22:55:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30046077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chameleonwrites/pseuds/chameleonwrites
Summary: In Nico di Angelo's defence, Will should have taught him modern slang, and thus this is ultimately Will's fault.After a miscommunication with Percy, Nico and Will accidentally begin spinning a scandalous lie about their 'first time': a first time that never happened. With the rumours flying around Camp Halfblood, tensions are bound to grow in Nico and Will's private life.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Series: A Myriad of Stars [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1349116
Comments: 14
Kudos: 95





	First Time

**Author's Note:**

> Whilst part of the Myriad of Stars series, this can easily be read as a standalone, as there are only a couple of plot-irrelevant references to previous parts dotted throughout.
> 
> Also, even though Nico and Will are both adults in this fic, I won't write any explicit content of the pair (now or in the future), as they're still minors in canon. I hope you enjoy!

In Nico’s defence of the whole incident, he was born in the 30’s in Venice Italy and practically ostracised himself for the first three years he arrived in the current time period. He was not up to date on modern slang.

Because he’d been dating Will for three years, now (which was ridiculous to think. They were eighteen. Actual legal _adults_ ), Nico would have liked to have thought his lovely, considerate boyfriend would have taken the time whenever a strange new term came up to explain it to Nico.

Unfortunately, Nico didn’t have a lovely, considerate boyfriend. He had Will Solace, whose prime source of entertainment over the last few years had been watching Nico respond to slang and try to comprehend it.

That’s why, in Nico’s opinion, it was all ultimately Will’s fault.

The affair began one sunny summer day when Nico was strolling through Camp, glad to receive warm looks from the younger campers compared to the cold ones he’d grown used to when he first arrived. He was heading to the infirmary after picking up lunch at the Mess Hall for Will. Three years later and he still hadn’t grown out of the habit of _forgetting to eat_.

Upon growing closer, Nico overheard two very familiar laughs: one belonging to Will and the other to a face Nico hadn’t been expecting to see today.

“Percy!” Nico exclaimed, entering the infirmary with a smile. “I thought you weren’t returning until next week.”

“Well, we missed you all too much. Plus, with Wise Girl’s guidance, I finished all my coursework a week early,” Percy grinned back, slinging an arm over Nico’s shoulder as he approached to pull him into a one-armed hug.

“Yeah, I get it, you wanted to see Estelle,” Nico rolled his eyes. “Did Annabeth come back, too?”

“I’m allowed to miss my baby sister,” Percy pouted. “But yeah, she’s here. I think she went to check on her siblings. She left muttering something about ‘Malcolm’s soap incident tally’, whatever that means.”

Nico glanced at Will who shrugged his shoulders, peeling latex gloves off and finally leaving his work for a bit.

“No clue about that one,” Will said. “If it doesn’t happen in here, I pretty much don’t know what’s going on.”

“That’s a lie,” Nico snorted, handing Will the tray of food and kissing his cheek. “He knows everything around here because every person who steps into this infirmary spills their secrets to him.”

Will tilted his head from side to side, neither confirming nor denying Nico's statement.

“Well, I’d better let you keep working, Will. It was good to see you again,” Percy nodded, picking up his bag.

“Yeah, you too, man,” Will agreed, the sound muffled from the slice of pizza he’d just bitten into.

“Nico, come spar with me? I feel like we haven’t seen each other in forever,” Percy asked.

“Sure,” Nico shrugged before glancing at Will who’d just flashed him a grumpy look. “What? Worried I’m going to elope with Percy whilst you’re eating your lunch?” he teased.

Will flicked Nico’s forehead.

“No, you bully. Just lamenting the fact no one will be able to feed me fries.”

Nico laughed loudly and grabbed one from the plate, holding it in front of Will’s face.

“Too bad, sunshine,” he smirked before eating the fry himself.

“Nico,” Will complained as Nico followed Percy to the door, still laughing to himself.

“Wow,” Percy remarked. “Glad to see the two of you are still going strong.”

Nico rolled his eyes, ignoring the fact he probably still had his ‘stupid love-struck face’, as Lou Ellen had so kindly dubbed it, on.

“Yeah, it’s because I never have to see his face during the day. It’s too dark when we hang out at night for me to see him,” Nico joked. Percy raised an eyebrow at him.

“I just saw you bring him lunch and flirt with him like you’re newlyweds,” he pointed out. “I guess nighttimes are where all the fun happens for you two, then.”

Nico didn’t trust Percy’s wiggling eyebrows but his mind had automatically jumped back to the Mythomagic game he’d played with Will, Cecil and Lou Ellen last night. That had been _fun,_ to say the least.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that,” Nico agreed. Percy laughed boisterously which seemed a little extreme, but who was Nico to criticise the eccentricities of Percy Jackson?

“Okay, okay, Nico, one bro to another, you gotta tell me: how was your first time?” Percy asked. Nico slowed walking a little. Slang he didn’t know. Great.

Just as Nico opened his mouth to ask, he decided to close it again and figure it out for himself. He wouldn’t have Will holding another misunderstanding over his head.

Nico thought about it as quickly as possible. ‘First time’ in itself was quite simple to understand, but first time doing what? Nico thought about the context. Percy had just been talking about his and Will’s relationship. Maybe he was talking about their first date? It had been a few years ago, now, but Nico supposed if Percy was inquiring about their relationship it made sense.

“It was pretty good,” Nico nodded. He definitely recalled Naomi Solace’s pancakes, a really nice hot chocolate in a café and Will admitting he looked hot when he was fighting monsters. All in all, Nico would rate it a 9/10 (one point was docked for the monster part).

“Just ‘pretty good’?” Percy asked. “C’mon, man, surely it was a bit more exciting than that.”

Percy nudged Nico’s arm on the word exciting, jostling him a little. Nico supposed he had been very underwhelming in his response.

“Yeah, it was brilliant,” Nico admitted with a roll of his eyes. “We did get interrupted by a monster, though, so, y’know, minus points for that.”

“What?” Percy screeched, his voice sounding rather strangled. Nico huffed a laugh.

“That part wasn’t ideal but Will thought I looked hot fighting so I suppose it ended well on that behalf,” he admitted, wondering if maybe he’d given a little too much detail. From the way Percy seemed to choke on his own saliva, it certainly seemed like he had.

“Wait, wait,” Percy spluttered, steadying his breathing again, “so if a monster interrupted, _where_ exactly was this?”

Nico wracked his brains. He didn’t know where it had been, if he was being honest. Just the vague whereabouts.

“Um, somewhere near Will’s place,” he said. Unfortunately, this news somehow seemed to make Percy’s spluttering worse. He grabbed hold of the wall of a nearby cabin to finish his wheezing.

“ _Somewhere_ …,” he gasped, “ _near_ … Nico, you’re _killing_ me. Man, it’s always the sweetest ones.”

Just as Nico was finally about to ask what had been quite so hilarious about the whole situation, the two were interrupted by a stern shout.

“Percy!” Annabeth called out, marching up to the two of them. “Where have you been?”

Nico took a step backwards. An angry Annabeth was never worth crossing.

“Well, I went to the infirmary, like I said, but I bumped into Nico and we were going down to the arena to spar,” Percy explained, awkwardly, straightening himself up again.

“I knew that- Will could tell me that much. Why, then, are you over here, making me _terrified_ that something had happened to you in between?” Annabeth asked and Nico finally realised that it had been worry rather than anger in her fierce grey eyes.

“We got sidetracked… talking…” Percy said before dissolving into laughter again.

“I’m going to take him somewhere else. I promised Piper I’d iris message her when we were here safely. She’ll probably want to see that Percy’s alive, too,” Annabeth explained, practically heaving Percy off the wall.

“Tell her I say hi,” Nico requested. “It’s good to see you again, Annabeth.”

“You too,” Annabeth nodded at him, smiling warmly. “Right, come on, Seaweed Brain.”

With that, she started hauling Percy away.

“Will and Nico, Wise Girl. Who would have thought it of innocent little Will and Nico?” Nico overheard Percy saying as they walked away.

“Thought _what?_ ” Annabeth asked.

“Oh, just you wait until I tell you this.”

* * *

For the next week, Nico was getting particularly strange looks and he had no idea why. When an Aphrodite child had taken one look at Nico and run off, snickering to themself, Nico decided enough was enough.

As the unfortunate solution to an increasingly large amount of Nico’s problems, Nico sought solace in Will (pun fully intended). As his boyfriend was once again absent from lunch, Nico tracked him down in the Infirmary, a sandwich and apple already on a plate for him.

“ _You_ ,” Will announced accusingly as soon as Nico stepped into the infirmary. “Do you know what I’ve just heard?”

Nico handed him the plate and shrugged, eyes wide with guilt.

“Is it the reason everyone’s looking at me strangely? Because I was just about to come and ask you,” he explained, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“Come over here,” Will ordered, hooking a hand in the crease of Nico’s elbow and dragging him to the supply cupboard. It wasn’t the first time Will had dragged him in here, but something about Will’s pointedly raised eyebrow told Nico they weren’t in the cupboard for their usual reasons.

“All week, people have been looking at me strangely and snickering when my back’s turned. I’ve tried to ask my siblings about it but they genuinely didn’t seem to know what was going on and none of my patients would tell me until I _finally_ threatened the truth out of Cecil,” Will began firmly.

Nico swallowed. He was almost certain he’d somehow done something wrong, but he had no idea _what_ he’d done wrong.

“Well, what’s the reason?” Nico finally asked, the desire to know overwhelming his desire to live in ignorance of his mistakes. Will levelled him with a look.

“You really don’t know,” he realised and Nico shook his head in confirmation. Will chuckled under his breath. “Well, in that case, I suppose I should fill you in. Apparently, an ‘anonymous source’ told Cecil that you’d told Percy Jackson that our ‘first time’ was not only interrupted by a monster but was _outside_ somewhere.”

“Oh, yeah, I remember that,” Nico suddenly realised. _That_ was what everyone had been laughing over? It really didn’t seem like too big a deal to him. Will’s eyes widened in horror, though, so perhaps Nico had made a mistake after all.

“Nico, _why_?” Will bemoaned. Nico thought back to his conversation with Percy. There had been a miscommunication somewhere. What had it been again?

“Oh,” the realisation suddenly hit. “Oh, ‘first time’ doesn’t mean first date, does it.”

Will couldn’t seem to stop himself from spluttering into hysterics.

“ _No_ ,” he wheezed through shaking laughs, his head falling against Nico’s shoulder, “it absolutely does not.”

Nico tried to quell the panic rising in side him. What on _earth_ had he told Percy?

“Well what does it mean? You _know_ I don’t know modern slang,” he demanded.

“Alright, alright, I’ll tell you,” Will conceded, his laughter dying down. “You have to promise not to freak out when I tell you what I panicked and said to Cecil after hearing his tale, though.”

Nico swallowed the lump in his throat.

“Just tell me, Will,” he resigned. Will took a deep breath to calm himself and tilted his head down to look Nico in the eyes.

“Your first time is in reference to sex.”

Nico’s world momentarily froze. Suddenly, every single laugh and strange look made a _lot_ of sense. He had unintentionally told Percy that he and Will had been having sex out in the open only to be interrupted by a _monster_ half way through the act.

Thank the _gods_ Nico hadn’t mentioned finding little Cordelia.

“What are we going to tell everyone?” Nico mourned, his head buried in his hands to hide the bright red that had crossed his face.

“Hey, Neeks, it’s really not a big deal. I’m sorry I laughed. It’s really just more funny than embarrassing,” Will promised, his hands returned to Nico’s shoulders. Nico dropped his weight forward. Hiding his face in Will’s chest was easier than using his hands.

“I have to tell Percy,” Nico resolved.

“Or we could not,” Will suggested. Nico would have raised an eyebrow at him if he wanted to show his face, but he was still too mortified and had to resort to words, instead.

“Why?”

“You know how I made you promise not to freak out when I told you what I said to Cecil?” Will reminded Nico. Nico groaned.

“Gods of Olympus, what did you say?”

“He asked me if it was true; if we were really that ‘freaky’- his words, not mine- and I panicked and said yes,” Will said rather quickly, as if it pained him to announce it. Nico was struggling to see how this situation could possibly get any worse as he buried his face even further into Will, his arms wrapped around him.

“We’re doomed,” he decided. His reputation was never recovering from this.

“I’ve had an idea of how we can twist the situation around, actually,” Will spoke up after a moment of silent mourning.

Nico finally pulled himself out of Will’s chest but kept his arms around his waist so he could glance up.

“I’m literally open to every and all suggestions to improve this situation,” he said. Will closed his eyes and let out a shaky laugh.

“Don’t laugh,” he started, “but what if we actively went along with the lie.”

Nico did get to raise his eyebrow this time.

“How do you mean?” he asked.

“We could pretend what you said was true and, I don’t know, add things? If we conferred for details, we could have the whole camp believing a ridiculous story about our provocative adventure in the great outdoors. Then we’d be the ones laughing at them for actually _believing_ it,” Will suggested.

Nico glanced at him for a moment before bursting into laughter.

“Hey, I said don’t laugh!” Will protested but Nico grabbed the front of his t-shirt and dragged him into a quick kiss.

“I wasn’t bullying you, for once,” Nico promised against Will’s lips. “It’s actually a really good idea. I’m in.”

Will’s eyes shone.

“Really?” he whispered. Nico nodded.

“Really,” he agreed, kissing Will again. He could feel Will’s smile against his own lips, both of them a little too giddy to kiss properly.

“What’s the first addition to our scandalous story?” Will asked as Nico managed to back him against the supply cupboard door.

“Hmm,” Nico hummed, twisting the hairs at the nape of Will’s neck around his fingers. “I was thinking maybe your Mom called just as we were getting started.”

“And I answered it?” Will suggested with an eyebrow wiggle, his arms loosely wrapped around Nico’s waist. Nico snorted a laugh.

“You were there, too, you know,” he smirked. Will’s eyes flashed with a darker look and suddenly Nico didn’t feel too giddy to kiss him properly anymore.

Kayla did have to knock on the door and yell at them to get out of the supply cupboard a moment later, though.

* * *

Word spread fast in Camp Halfblood, and it turned out it spread even faster when the subjects were actively encouraging the spreading. By the end of the following week, Nico was having the easiest time sparring against Percy, as the other couldn’t look him in the eyes without bursting out laughing; Piper loudly asked Nico if he was into a variety of weird kinks she’d heard of whenever she was around both him and Will; Cecil and Lou Ellen were refusing to sit on any beds in the Hades Cabin whenever they visited to play mythomagic; and the younger campers looked horrified whenever Will so much as ruffled Nico’s hair.

All in all, it was rather hilarious. Nico was almost losing track of their story. So far it included at least three hellhounds, Naomi Solace’s encouragements, public indecency, skinny dipping, a melted ice cream and a video that was unfortunately lost when the camera was eaten by one of the hellhounds. Their tale was that notorious even Chiron seemed to give them disapproving looks when they asked for permission to leave camp for a date.

Whilst Nico was having a lot of fun spinning the story with Will, there had grown an underlying tension between the two since the incident began. Both of them were of age, now, and had been together for over three years, but neither had brought up the topic of sex outside of their hilarious fabrication.

If Nico was being honest with himself- a practice he rather disliked- he was terrified. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to take things a step further with Will, because he _did,_ but the prospect of actually-doing-rather-than-just-thinking-of-it was rather daunting.

In an act of particular cowardice, Nico had just been hoping that either Will would bring it up first to save Nico the trouble, or that one day things would just accidentally progress from making out into something more and then the fear would be over and he could just relax. It was a rather futile hope. Nico was all too aware that there was more communication involved with things like this than just ‘letting things progress’. Still, he could hope.

Shockingly, both of Nico’s foolish hopes did come to fruition at least in small part.

Will and Nico weren’t technically allowed to be alone in the Hades cabin, and they did mainly obey the rules, but if Lou Ellen and Cecil left their mythomagic session, no one would assume Will hadn’t left, too, and after The Incident last Summer, no one was going to check up on two campers alone.

And that was how the two ended up making out on Nico’s bed. Will had propped himself over Nico and shucked his shirt up, running his hands over Nico’s stomach. Meanwhile, Nico had fastened one hand in Will’s hair, using it to angle his mouth against his own, and the other on Will’s hip, thumb hooked in the belt loop.

Will’s mouth was hot and hungry against his and Nico could hear his heartbeat pounding in his own head, driving him crazy. He’d never been so grateful for the incredibly tight skinny jeans he always wore, as even though they were growing increasingly uncomfortable, at least Will wouldn’t be able to tell. Theoretically.

Will released a low groan as Nico pressed another deep, open mouthed kiss to Will’s lips, and the voice telling him ‘ _more’_ overpowered him for a split second. His mind still racing, not willing to think straight anytime soon, Nico tugged Will closer with the hand resting on his hip.

Will’s body moved without resistance and their hips collided with the exact urgency Nico had been feeling since he’d pulled Will on top of him on the bed. Nico threw his head back, releasing a sound somewhere between a gasp and a moan, and he was about to grab the back of Will’s shirt to pull him fully against him when his mind caught up.

Will seemed to have had a similar predicament, because his hands suddenly stilled against Nico’s sides and the two made eye contact, neither daring to move. Nico had no clue what he was supposed to do. Had he ruined things? His heart was still racing, but for entirely different reasons, now. He couldn’t lose Will. Will meant _everything_ to him.

“I think,” Will breathed out, his breath warm on Nico’s face with how close they still were, “that we need to talk.”

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” Nico agreed, shuffling out from under Will as the two moved to sit side by side. Nico wasn’t sure he could muster enough courage to look Will in the eye as they had this conversation. Plus, looking elsewhere was helping him to cool down the heat that had pooled low in his stomach.

When Will didn’t speak up again, Nico realised he might have to take the plunge, or they’d be stuck in this stalemate forever, and as safe as it was, it was also awkward.

“So, um, I guess I should ask you how you feel about- well, y’know,” Nico trailed off. He’d made a valiant start, in his opinion, but saying these things out loud was turning out to be harder than he’d thought.

“Um,” Will shuffled before finally turning to face him. “I’m down if you’re down?”

He raised a hopeful eyebrow and Nico had to bite his lip to stop a laugh from breaking forth.

“Will, you had to give a sex ed class last month. You _know_ it’s a bit more complicated than that,” he pointed out and Will was grinning, too. The awkward air had dissipated instantly and the two were laughing once more, their previous situation forgotten entirely.

“Okay, okay, fine,” Will rolled his eyes. “I hadn’t realised how much easier it was to talk about sex from a medical perspective than it was from a personal perspective.”

“I have some ground rules,” Nico said.

“Go on,” Will invited, not noticing the smirk still etched on Nico’s face.

“Your mom is _not_ allowed to call, there can be _no_ hellhounds and we’re not doing it outside.”

Will burst into another bout of laughter, his hand fastening on Nico’s knee for stability.

“I love you, you know that?” he snorted through his laughter. Nico grinned at him.

“You may have mentioned it once or twice,” he mused, leaning against his side again. Maybe he’d been overthinking the whole situation. It was just Will. Nico always felt more relaxed in Will’s presence, and the son of Apollo had seen him at his best and his worst, loving him all the same.

“We kind of killed the mood, today,” Will pointed out, “but I guess I should make it known that yes, I would like to take things further if you would, and I think we should establish safe words before anything, just to make sure the other is always comfortable.”

“Honestly, I feel pretty much the same,” Nico agreed, lacing his hand through Will’s. “Traffic light system?”

“Works for me,” Will agreed, kissing Nico’s cheek. “The Harpies will be out soon. I should probably head back.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, then,” Nico sighed. “We can always discuss it further when it- um- when it comes up?”

Will raised an eyebrow with a devious grin.

“Was that an innuendo, di Angelo?”

Nico leaned forward, aligning their faces and grinning back.

“You’ll have to wait and find out,” he teased, cupping Will’s neck with his hand and kissing him far more chastely than earlier.

“Goodnight,” Will whispered against his lips as they parted.

“Night,” Nico agreed, watching Will jump off his bed and send one final wave over his shoulder before leaving the Hades cabin.

Nico flopped back down on his bed with a sigh of relief and began trying to keep his mind away from the memory of Will propped up above him, earlier, his warm hands touching every inch of Nico’s skin he could reach.

Some nights, Nico was really grateful to have a cabin to himself.

* * *

Piper, Annabeth, Percy, Nico and Will were out for lunch the following week when Piper inevitably brought up the biggest gossip of Camp.

“You know, the Aphrodite cabin keep betting on what secret scandal you’ll reveal next, you two,” she accused, pointing a fry between Will and Nico. Nico caught Will’s eye surreptitiously as Percy spluttered on his drink.

“I will _never_ be over hearing that, Nico. You’ve scarred me for life,” he shook his head as Annabeth patted his back sympathetically.

“You asked,” Nico shrugged with a smirk.

“And Nico, you’ve been positively _glowing_ the past couple of days,” Piper accused. Nico’s cheeks flushed red. “Don’t tell me you actually _enjoy_ camp hearing your scandalous exploits.”

“It’s not that,” Nico immediately insisted.

“Yeah,” Will agreed, trying and failing to hide a grin. “It’s just that we accidentally angered a dryad this time.”

Nico had to bury his face in Will’s shoulder with how hard he was laughing. Poor Annabeth almost choked on a fry.

* * *

“And, not only have a never known a couple stand by each others’ sides as solidly as these two,” Percy announced to the guests, a grin creeping onto his face, “I’ve never known a couple so openly involved in a tale of debauchery.”

Nico froze, turning to Will with a startled gaze. Perhaps choosing Percy as his Best Man had not been in his best interests, after all. Their _parents_ were here, after all.

“All those under sixteen, I solidly advise you momentarily cover your ears, because believe me, I certainly wanted to when Nico casually announced that his and Will’s first time had not only been interrupted by hellhounds, ice cream, a call from Ms. Solace and threats of arrest for public indecency, but the two _willingly_ announced the story at Camp to any camper who asked,” Percy continued, drawing cacophonous laughs from the audience.

All their friends from Camp Half-Blood clearly remembered the tale, clutching each other as they recalled the hilarity. Hades and Naomi were looking scandalised, even if Apollo seemed disturbingly entertained by the tale. Nico and Will, however-

Well, whilst it certainly wasn’t a tale Nico would have actively chosen to be told at his wedding, he couldn’t deny that the knowing look he shared with Will as everyone laughed around them was well worth it.

With an arm around Nico’s chair, Will lean forward to whisper in his ear.

“I think we should tell them the truth after our honeymoon,” he suggested. A wicked grin struck Nico’s face.

“Jackson will be _crushed_ ,” Nico agreed, lacing his fingers through Will’s, the cool metal of his wedding band a comfort against his skin.

It was, after all, quite a spectacular misunderstanding.

**Author's Note:**

> This may be my favourite of the short-stories. I only have one more planned to write, after this, so the Myriad of Stars Universe may unfortunately be drawing to a close.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and for supporting this series! ~H x


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